Tag: disqus alternative

One of the best ways to keep users engaged with your brand is to produce great content. But what makes content great? Obviously, it has to be interesting and insightful. It should be compelling (through visuals and audio as well as just text) and it should tell a story that is relevant to your brand. But all this relies on a basis of trust. This means that the first step to getting your users to engage is to create content that is trustworthy. So, how can you take your existing content and make it even more trustworthy? Here are some simple tips.

Having a corporate brand might be effective for some things, but when it comes to content, writing in a personal way is actually most effective. Readers want to connect with individuals not with a corporate entity so share names, photos and even bios to add credibility to your content. To create a relationship between reader and author, strive to make what you write informal enough to appear conversational but formal enough to be professional – it’s a careful balance. Ultimately the ratio of informal to formal depends on your brand and your goals (as well as on your content channels), so think about it and listen to what your readers have to say (especially in the form of user comments and feedback).

Choose ads wisely

Be careful what you do with advertising! Too many ads can alienate your users. Auto-play ads often feel overwhelming and intrusive. People don’t want to be talked at by your blog, and this is especially true of Millenials. But on the flip side, advertising is still very important and certainly a major part of most of the today’s blogs. So how can advertising be leveraged in a way that is trustworthy? Well, native ads that fit seamlessly onto your website or blog are a great way to go. Another way is to focus on building a community rather than simply advertising. Allowing people to engage and interact with your content is often more likely to lead to a conversion than pre-roll ads or intrusive banners.

Make your design flawless

You may think content is all about the words you choose, but if you think about it, people judge brands on visuals as much as on actual content. If a storefront is cracked and broken, you are probably less likely to purchase there. The same is true of the online world. If you have a website from the 1980’s, people will be less likely to trust your content. So what can you do? Well, if you haven’t already, now might be the time to invest in a top-notch web designer. But failing that, there are tones of free web design services out there. Even a few hours of work and a few great images can make a huge difference to user perceptions of your brand.

Let your users sing your praise

It’s all well and good creating a trustworthy platform, look, feel and even working on amazing content with statistics and quotes from experts. However, there is only so far you can go alone. The real mark of trustworthy content is user engagement and interaction. If users trust you they will want to join the conversation, and your content will go from static story to dynamic discussion. So how can you help this happen? It’s pretty simple – a trustworthy comments platform that filters spam but lets your users have a voice is a great tool for making your content more trustworthy and keeping people on your site for longer.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

We are moving away from the era of brash-in-your-face tech with users brandishing enormous touchscreen phones and large touchscreen watches to something altogether subtler. The future will be all about seamless tech that blends into users lives and styles. Think fashion tech rather than bulky functional tech. This is already beginning with wearables and tracking devices like the ever thinner and sleeker Fitbits on the market. Devices are becoming more like part of an overall style and fashion accessory than the obtrusive add-ons of yesteryear.

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/voice/

The year of voice tech

In many ways, 2017 has been heralded as the year of voice tech where many tech giants have shifted (or are shifting) their UI away from visual and tactile interfaces to audio ones. And just think about the benefits – audio means you can go hands-free. You can use your tech on the go, while walking, driving, multitasking. You never need to pause and stare down at a screen. The future will undoubtedly bring us a higher volume of more complex applications for voice tech as well as other hands-free interactions – think gesture technology and more. Touchscreens may never completely disappear but other interactions will become increasingly important.

Augmented sound

While augmented reality is a known quantity, the surge of what are sometimes termed “hearables” like Apple’s wireless headphones, are curating an experience that is essentially augmented sound. Without worrying about connectivity or proximity to our phones or device, the future looks likely to deliver augmented sound experiences, where we can overlay sound on our daily lives much the same way SnapChat overlays flower filters on ordinary photographs. Digital noise can be the key to creating new and fascinating soundscapes to enrich our daily lives.

Everything goes digital

We might be used to wearables and an overall concept of smart homes and the IoT, but the future looks likely to make everything digital. You might already control your air conditioning through voice but think about controlling your coffee maker the same way, ordering shopping through your voice-controlled fridge or having an army of voice controlled robots clean your house without leaving a trace.

Voice comments

While many technologies still have a long way to come, there are some emerging voice technologies that are already here, strong and ready to be leveraged. If we turn to one of the most well-known places on the Internet – the comments section (of any article, website, or social media conversation) we see an old fashioned text-based interaction. The future is about voice tech – and voice comments allow users to go hands-free while also sharing a more human and personal interaction.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

More than three-quarters of Germans use the Internet in some way during their day. Research has shown that 75% of them are signed up to at least one social media network and use it for around one-quarter of their online time. Future growth is set to continue with a solid uptake from the younger generation, with 90% of 14-year-olds to 29-year-olds registered on at least one social media platform. The most popular networks are listed below according to the number of users.

Facebook

Google+

Xing

Wer-kennt-wen

LinkedIn

MySpace

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/representation/

Why is Germany a laggard?

Germany is a laggard in social media compared to neighboring European countries. Compared to the UK’s 89%, Germany falls behind in social media usage. Germany ranks below the European average, with just 42% of its population regularly using social networks. The low social media usage is linked to Germany’s large aging population. The younger generation tends to be the ones that drive social media usage. Germany’s Statistisches Bundesamt reported that the number of residents aged 60 and older has risen consistently since 1950, and the number under age 20 has steadily declined.

In Germany, it is uncommon to speak to or add people one has just met via social media. The German culture does not promote the friendly social media attitude that some neighboring European countries have. In order to gain a like from a German, you really need to tailor your content so that it speaks to that particular demographic.

Another reason Germany may fall behind their European countries in Facebook usage is because Germans tend to use fake names. Although Facebook insists that users list their real names, many Germans still abbreviate or use fake names due to privacy concerns. This fixation with privacy often makes it difficult to trace and connect with people.

How to engage the German market

The German market is undeniably a tough market to tap into, however; it is a growing market with huge potential. Although the reasons above make it sound like it is difficult to advertise on social media, there are various innovative ways to do so. Tailor-made, carefully curated and highly personalized content is the way to transform an online experience into a strategy for success.

Moving from writing to voice

While there is a great deal of written communication in online media in Germany, one way to create content that stands out and has a personal touch is to turn to other mediums such as voice. Heyoya offers an innovative way to create a tailor-made online experience for users. Heyoya is a voice comments and reviews platform that helps to increase user-engagement and unique user-generated content through voice.

So how does it work?

It’s actually pretty simple: when surfing the web, users can respond to your articles, events and more by recording a voice comment or review through the Heyoya widget. You can also use Heyoya to upload your own voice content to your website. This is a great way to leave messages for your users, talk to them and hear what they have to say! Ultimately, by using the Heyoya widget, you can better leverage your comments sections to increase user engagement and create higher quality content, keeping users on your site for longer.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization.For more information about Heyoya, or to start using Heyoya’s Receiver plan and start earning money today, click here.

Social media is one of the fastest changing industries out there. Social Media will keep on surprising us as it keeps on taking a larger part in our lives and our work. Sometimes a cutting-edge technology changes the social game, or an old idea (e.g. virtual reality) gains viral popularly. Either way, the results always have a huge impact and 2017 will be no different. Here are four social media trends that will dominate 2017 but let us first explain why social media is such a game changer.

Consumers often take to social media to publicly discuss their buying process. According to LeadSift, this is one of the biggest, yet frequently overlooked opportunities on social media, as businesses can make more intelligent decisions with this information while also presenting the perfect time to engage.

Virtual reality (VR) is new to the market however immensely popular due to the interactive and present like experience it offers. In fact, Snapchat selfie lenses brought the idea of augmented reality into the social sphere. VR is a trend that will most likely continue to pick up momentum. Facebook owns Oculus Rift and will make a steady push for VR use on their platform (anything to get VR into their live stream). In addition, Facebook recently acquired Masquerade, a live filter and selfie app for live streaming video.

Just like the live video, augmented reality creates new opportunities for brands to connect with their audience by sharing experiences, rather than just information, on social media. It is noted that almost 75% of millennials are interested in virtual reality, and 2017 may just be the year they blow up the idea of self-insertion into media.

LIVE VIDEO AMPLIFICATION

The landscape of live video is likely to continue to shift towards an emphasis on live video content. Facebook will allow for paid amplification of a live video while it’s happening whilst LinkedIn will most likely introduce some sort of play to include Skype within their platform (eg: video interviews or live video sessions)

Live video amplification is a trend that ‘Snapchaters’ and ‘Instagramers’ are accustomed to. At the end of last year, Instagram encroached onto Snapchat territory by introducing live feed. It is predicted that Instagram will most probably continue to enhance and introduce new features to boost the live streamlining whilst Snapchat will probably come out with a revolutionary feature.

CHATBOT INFLUX

Chatbots are simply a form of artificial intelligence used to help and assist consumers with shopping, booking and customer service. The benefits of using artificially intelligent chats are aimed at improving customer service by responding quickly to questions and comments. Facebook integrated chatbots within Facebook Messenger and further, businesses are now using them to communicate with customers.

Chatbots are increasingly important, allowing brands to optimize their customer service experience. More than a third of people already prefer social media to a phone call for customer support. Soon, it is predicted that brands might not bother having a website at all, and rather conduct all their customer relations through social media.

INTERACTIVE CONTENT WINS

Interactive content (videos and blog posts) is predicted to become more widespread. Buzzfeed typically uses interactive content through quizzes and tests. It is noted that when readers have a direct impact on the content, they are more engaged, thus increasing one’s brand recall.

Interactive content allows brands to connect with consumers in an engaging and interactive way. Interactive content is vital for growth and engagement as brands not only want consumers to recall, they want them to be excited and share the content with their friends. As seen with Buzzfeed, consumers compared results with friends, furthering the engagement levels. Interactive content simply allows for a single piece of content to integrate social elements into it.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

SEO refers to search engine optimization and covers all the technical and creative elements involved in improving site rankings and driving traffic to your website. This includes a lot of different things, from generating consistently great content, to the ways in which you structure your website and the links you include in it. Over the years, SEO has been evolving in more sophisticated and interesting directions, and today, the trends of voice content and voice searches are set to further change the world of SEO.

The evolution of SEO

There have been tons of changes in the world of SEO. Once, SEO was all about cramming in the correct keywords into a web page or blog. If you were an air-conditioning salesperson than you can bet the word air-conditioning would have featured roughly one thousand times in every sentence. Keywords were very much at the center of things. However, over time, search engine algorithms have become much more sophisticated and have learned to favor more natural types of speech. When Google released Hummingbird in 2013, it moved SEO towards more conversational content. In 2016, search engine algorithms have gone further, and content that is longer and more in depth tends to do better. Content with photos also consistently outperforms text-based content, and backlinks remain essential.

It is not just text and images that are rapidly changing the world of SEO. The increasing popularity of voice search means that today over 20% of mobile queries are voice searches. These kinds of searches are based on questions rather than keywords, and they are changing SEO. For one thing, content that is conversational or that answers questions (think FAQ style) are performing well. It’s also likely that instant answers will become more popular and feature as the response for a greater number of voice-based queries. However, this doesn’t mean that we should stop paying attention to typed searches. At the moment, a whopping 80% of all mobile searches are still text-based.

Voice content also changes things

Web site and blog content tend to be a mixture of text, video, and images. And while video and image content is incredibly important, and proven to help with SEO, audio-based content is the one to watch in 2016. The fact that people are using voice assistants more and more frequently suggests that the importance of voice content is also increasing. If you can’t look at your screen and can only voice search, then it’s reasonable to assume there are many times when audio content would be preferable to content that forces you to stare at your phone or laptop. And, as voice and speech analytics continues to improve it is only a matter of time before keywords and phrases in voice become an essential part of SEO.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

For more information about Heyoya, or to start using Heyoya’s Receiver plan and start earning money today, click here.

In our fast-paced world with new technologies being developed every second and whole new industries appearing out of the blue every day, it seems like everyone is always talking about innovation. But what does innovation really mean? Innovation is actually harder than you might think to define. If you start googling it you will come up with a never-ending quantity of quotes and ideas. Just take a look at a few expert opinions. At first glance, there seems to be a cacophony of thoughts and ideas. Some say “innovation is relative”, some say “it is a process that brings new ideas”, and some say “innovation is simply an idea”. And those are just a few examples; there are much more out there! So which is it? One thing that the experts seem to broadly agree on is that innovation brings something new to the table and that often this is linked to the creation of value and competitive advantage.

Innovation is not invention, or is it?

One of the areas where people seem to frequently get confused with innovation is when it comes to figuring out the difference between invention and innovation. The concept of newness is applicable to both ideas. When we think of invention, great moments of spring to mind like the creation of the wheel, the creation of telephones, the creation of computers and many more leaps of human creativity. So are these moments also innovation or innovative? And how can we define or understand the overlap between the two (assuming there is one)?

Some people argue that the easiest way to look at the two concepts is through a Venn diagram. In this model, innovation is the space where invention (newness) meets the market (utility, creating value). So it is possible to have a great invention without being innovative if you fail to create market value. But even here there are disagreements, with many people claiming that invention is the creation of something new while innovation means incrementally changing or improving something that already exists.

Source: keyword-suggestions.com

These days the terms innovation and invention are often used as if they were one and the same, and the truth is, the term innovation has become something of a trendy buzzword that is now added to pretty much every idea, start-up, marketing plan and new technology out there. If we look to the Oxford Dictionary (aka the holy grail of language) we find that both invention and innovation refer to the act of newness and creation. It’s actually hard to pull apart the difference between the creation of a new, method, idea product and something that has been invented. So perhaps the truth of the semantics is that in the modern world “invention” has evolved into “innovation”, and perhaps this is because when it comes to new creations in the modern world, the focus (now more than ever) is on creating something new that can be brought to market, and most importantly, to create something that creates value.

Heyoya is an innovative comment and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

If you have a fabulous website and a dedicated user base, you might be dreaming of ways to quit the day job and somehow turn your website into a viable stream of income. Or maybe you just want a bit of extra cash on the side. In both cases there are many different strategies for turning the effort invested in your website into cash; some are relatively easy to do while others take a lot more time and effort. Here are some recommended ways to start.

Sell ad space

If you haven’t started doing this already, it’s definitely something worth looking into. You can literally sell the real-estate on your website and this can be areas on the top, to the side and also underneath your text or content. In general, pricing depends on how much traffic you have on your site. If you are pulling in high numbers, that’s great because you can charge more, but if your numbers are relatively low, your prices will be too. This mode of monetization can generate anything from a few hundred to many thousand dollars per ad depending on how many users you have on your site. If you choose to do this, it’s worth advertising your real estate on advertising marketplaces like admarketplace.com.

Source: trekadvertising.com

Use an advertising widget

There are so many endless and diverse ways to advertise. Apart from selling ad space you can use pay-per-click advertising, affiliate advertising, in-text advertising and much much more. The great thing about ad widgets is that they can give you a combination of different advertising options in an easy to use and stress-free way. Before you choose what to use, take some time to research the different advertising options and figure out which is the best fit or combination of fits for you.

Try video and/or audio ads

You might have thought quite extensively about text and visual ads. Maybe you’ve already sold a few. While they can generate a good amount of revenue for your website, it might be worth exploring other mediums and trying out video or audio ads. The usual format for these is pop-up ads which your users or readers are obliged to watch or listen to. They are better at generating revenue because of this, but on the other hand, they can be very annoying. The key is to choose the type of video and audio that would actually interest your users rather than alienating them with endless intrusive pop-ups.

Focus on below-the-fold advertising

The real estate at the very very bottom of your content or text is often ignored. Maybe you’ve thought about selling the real estate here, and if you have you are probably thinking it is worth a lot less than the large banner ads users see the second they get to your site. The truth is, the below-the-fold ads can give a lot more bang for your buck since the users who take the time to pay attention to your content and get to the bottom of your web pages are those who are most engaged.

Heyoya is a unique comment and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

For more information about Heyoya, or to start using Heyoya’s Receiver plan and start earning money today, click here.

When it comes to growing a business, a lot of attention and focus goes on acquiring new users and increasing user engagement. The truth is, one of the key areas where you can improve ROI is your conversion rate. However many people get to your website or online store, the big question is how many perform the actions or complete the goals needed to improve your bottom line. Sometimes the conversion rate refers to the completion of a product order, but it can also be something simpler like leaving a contact number, signing up to a mailing list or downloading a widget. Whatever conversion metric is key to your success; there are some great ways to optimize your conversion rates.

Why improve conversion rates?

So you might be thinking, why bother? You have a relatively low conversion rate but you are able to attract new visitors to your website through social media, content and advertising. That’s great news, but at the end of the day, improving your conversion rate is actually a lot more cost effective than gaining new visitors. High web traffic is good but if everyone is a single page visitor and you generally have a high bounce rate, then a greater number of visitors actually does nothing for your bottom line. On the flip side, improving your conversion rate involves finding the right kind of customers and making sure more of them stick around for the crucial moment of commitment where they go from “just another visitor” to someone who has bought into your website or product.

Source: wordstream.com

Improve your landing pages

To increase how engaged users are and to get them to make the first step towards that moment of commitment that increases your conversion rate, you need to make sure the first page they reach is excellent. If your landing pages are boring or unclear people will bounce right off them. So how can you make them amazing? First of all, make sure the content here is the best you have. If you have multiple web pages and limited resources, your landing pages should be getting a hefty share of attention and resources. They should be error free with some great advertising and marketing copy. It goes without saying that the UX should be seamless. However, it’s also important to make a clear call to action so users know what to do next. If it isn’t obvious through pop-ups and links (and whatever other tools) that they need to leave their email address or progress to their shopping cart than they won’t do it and you will lose valuable website visitors.

Create more engagement

Having great copy and beautiful visuals is great, but it isn’t enough to get your users to send you their details or commit to their first purchase. One of the best ways to get your users to stick around is to give them channels to engage. If your online store is conversational and interactive rather than static, it is highly likely people will stick around for longer. Having tailor made search results is one way to make your online store more personal. But having space for user reviews, interaction and opinions is an even better way of hearing from your customers. Reviews have been proven to increase conversion rates and are an invaluable tool for any online store. To make reviews even more personal and interactive, it’s possible to use voice-based platforms rather than the standard text-based review widgets. Voice is a great way to interact with your customers, hear their opinions, and share your thoughts and special offers.

Heyoya is a unique comment and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.